


Costar Chemistry

by dat_heichou



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: M/M, Mentions of homophobia/biphobia, film actor au, its a happy story though, part of jmgiftexchange2016
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-24
Updated: 2016-12-24
Packaged: 2018-09-11 14:17:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8984974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dat_heichou/pseuds/dat_heichou
Summary: For years, Jean has been a small-name actor, limited to made-for-tv films and minor expendable characters in cop shows.  But finally, on his 25th birthday, Survey Studios emails him with an offer to be part of a film that could be his big break.
Surprisingly, the job isn't nearly as exciting as his costar turns out to be.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [raysoftwilight](https://archiveofourown.org/users/raysoftwilight/gifts).



> Happy Holidays, WilloftheWayward /grand-guardian-deity, I'm your jeanmarco secret santa! You asked for an au where Jean and Marco are both actors and I did my best to deliver. I hope you like it! :)

On Jean’s 25th birthday, he receives an email from Levi Ackerman at Survey Studios and he _knows_ that his big break is coming.  All those years of bit parts, playing high-schoolers long after he had already graduated from college, playing the asshole ex on low-budget made-for-tv movies (he was told he simply “didn’t have the face” to play the caring love interest), his chance to shine is finally here.  His days of being known as “that cute guy that died on that one episode of NCIS” are finally behind him, he just knows it.

Survey Studios is the big time, with a large budget and even larger revenue, and to be _invited_ to audition, especially based on “consideration of his past roles” is huge.

Jean’s too pumped about it to be too nervous and once his audition is over, he _knows_ he absolutely nailed it.  Nothing rekindles his childhood love of acting like the prospect of playing a secret agent on the big screen and he knows he threw himself into his lines with a gusto he hadn’t felt since his first roles.

When he’s called back for an interview, he _knows_ he’s practically got the job.  But sitting in a high class office with the real Levi Ackerman, who’s exuding an intensity that didn’t come across in his email-- _though_ , Jean realizes with a jolt, _he certainly didn’t write it because why would a big shot director write his emails?_ \--makes Jean start to question the nature of his good luck.  It dimly reminds him of sitting in a principal’s office as a child and he wonders if the man is actually here to list all of his mistakes that he’s made over the course of his career.

“Erwin and I,” the director begins in a dignified tone, his words causing another burst of nerves in Jean because he’s talking about _Erwin Smith_ , the handsome face of Survey Studios, “are planning to make waves in Hollywood with this film, so we need talent that is both trustworthy and discrete.  We’re not letting any leaks happen until opening day in theaters.”

“Is that possible?”  Jean can’t help but ask.

“Alfred Hitchcock managed to prevent even his theater audiences from spoiling the ending of _Psycho_ , so surely our staff can run a tight ship,” says a new voice in the doorway behind him.  Recognition causes Jean to flinch as none other than Erwin Smith joins them, circling around Levi’s desk to settle neatly in an extra chair Jean had failed to notice before.  Jean’s never been in a room with so much _fame_ before and he’s both thrilled and terrified of the prospect of working with a whole crew of similarly high-profile people.

“Most of the people we’ve signed on are people we’ve done previous projects with, people that we know are trustworthy team-players,” Levi continues without batting an eye, making Jean wonder if they had planned to catch him off guard with Erwin’s sudden arrival the whole time.  “You’re more of a gamble, so we need to be certain of your integrity before we offer you _anything.”_

Instead of being curious about what kind of twist requires such intense security measures, Jean finds himself more flattered than anything.  The idea of being picked out for this, when the majority of his previous characters had descriptions instead of names in movie credits, is incredible.

His ego keeps him from asking specific questions and he eagerly nods.  “I can keep a secret!  But why me?”

The two men share an indecipherable look before Levi leans toward him, folding his hands together on his desk.  “Because of _PonyBoy._ ”

For a moment it feels as though the whole room crashes down on Jean as his dream come true quickly shifts into nightmare territory.  “ _Ponyboy_ …” he whispers in disbelief.

“Yeah, an indie student film.  Your first movie,” Levi reminds him, as if Jean could have possibly forgotten.

Jean bites his lip as he wonders where this is going.  The past three years he’s been trying to perform enough roles that no one asks about his first anymore. Until this very moment, it seemed to have been working.  “What about it?” he finally asks, feeling caught in a game of verbal jenga, the whole opportunity ready to topple under his feet if he says the wrong words.

“You played the lead in a film about bisexual ostracization from both the gay and the straight community.”

“That’s right…”

“What do you feel about it?  You seem tense when we talk about it, even though it's by far your most emotionally engaging performance,” Erwin Smith, the head producer and brains behind Survey Studios, asks easily, as though it doesn’t have the potential to ruin all the years of hard work Jean has put into his acting career, trying to get on the _mainstream_ stage.

Maybe it’s because it’s Erwin _freaking_ Smith asking, maybe it’s because he actually complimented Jean on a movie that no one seemed to watch, but Jean decides to give them his most honest feelings.  “I was excited about it at first,” he answers slowly, “I thought our story would reach people, you know?  But… I don't want to be limited to obscure indie films, or to be limited to playing the token gay sidekick.”  He takes a steadying breath before he looks at them again, the two overly serious men giving him more attention than he’s probably received ever.  “I want to be the hero.”

They both simply blink at him for a moment, considering him before turning to each other to communicate silently.  Meanwhile, Jean feels his brain short circuit as he tries to come to terms with just how ballsy he’s being with his career here, when Levi finally remarks, “I think we’ve heard enough, don’t you think, Erwin?”

“I think so.  It’s been a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Kirstein.”

As Jean receives the firmest handshakes of his life, he can’t help but wistfully hope he’d answered correctly.

* * *

A couple of months later, when he’s holding the script of _The Trost Files_ in his hands, Jean finds himself equally disappointed and excited.  Because while he managed to actually get a huge role in a Survey Studio’s film, of all things, his script still has “Felix Rutledge” written neatly at the top, the name of the lawyer sidekick to the secret agent.

Sure, the idea of playing a lawyer that’s tired of deskwork and arguing in court and decides to do some hands-on investigating, only to fall directly into a gang scandal, is pretty cool.  But it’s not _secret agent_ level cool.

Maybe it wouldn’t have bothered him as much if the actor chosen for Grant Lawrence, secret agent, wasn’t none other than Marco Bodt, the posterboy for Survey Studio’s romantic-comedies.  Physically Jean supposes the other man is a better fit, he has the broader build out of the two of them and can probably bench press more.  But his freckles and dimpled smile are too cute and boyish, not harsh enough for an action hero.

_Though,_ Jean can’t help but admit, _that would be good cover for an agent, wouldn’t it?_

Jean’s still looking the actor over, comparing all of the man’s features to his own, wondering what it is exactly that he lacks, when Marco notices his attention and _smiles_ at him, effectively derailing his thoughts.

_Ugh his fangirls have a point,_ Jean screams internally, _He’s adorable, the kind of guy that you want to buy you flowers and to take to overpriced restaurants.  Is this what being “lead material” entails?_ Then Marco starts walking toward him and Jean really wants to panic.   _Abort abort, I’m not famous enough for this._

“Hi,” Marco smiles again, showing off the dimple in his left cheek.  Jean hates that the other man is taller than him-- a few inches yet another thing he has that he doesn’t.  “You must be Jean Kirstein?  Sounds like we’ll be working together a lot in the next few months.”  He holds his hand out to shake and Jean just stares at it blankly for a few moments before he finally manages to say anything.

Instead of a greeting or anything remotely polite, Jean’s mouth betrays him with his gut reaction to the other man’s casting.  “I didn’t know you were an action kind of guy.”

Marco’s smile droops slightly at the remark and Jean flusters, trying to throw out new words to counteract his first ones.  “I mean, you’ve never been in a big action movie before, right?  I mean, me neither, but then again I’ve never been on any big film before.  Or at least a big part, at least.  I played mobster in--”

“I see you two have met,” Levi’s bland voice interrupts, saving the both of them from Jean’s rambling.  “We want you to do a quick test run through a scene for us.”

He leads them to a small section of set, seating himself on a chair as he flips through their scripts to the page he wants.  “It’s the first lines your characters exchange.  Felix has just been rescued by Grant and he’s pissed off about it.”

_Pissed off… I can do that,_ Jean smiles, psyching himself for the surprise test.   _I’ll be the best pissed off sidekick ever.  That’ll teach Mr. Rom-Com that I actually know my shit._

They each take a minute to read through the page before Levi claps his hands.  “Marco, first line.”

“You shouldn’t have been there,” Marco reads, tone firm/

“Yeah well, it’s my job to be in the know, so I went where the information was,” Jean bites back, throwing all of his frustration into his character.  He only glances off the page to gauge his partner’s reaction, watching Marco visibly slip into character, his body language becoming more rigid and intimidating.

“You made yourself a liability!  If you weren’t there, I would have been able to take control of the scene before they secured a hostage!”  Marco steps toward him, effectively boxing Jean in against a miscellaneous prop table cluttering the room.

“Are you really that sure about it?” Jean sneers, leaning up into the other man’s face.  “You don’t seem to know who you’re dealing with, do you?”

“Once I get you to spill what you know, then I won’t have any more problems.”

“Hmm,” Jean hums, “With this information, won’t I be a liability from here on out anyway?  The best way to keep me in check would be to,” he pauses for a moment, savoring his line the way he images Felix would savor this newfound excitement in his life, “take me with you.  Let me help you save the day.”

Marco stiffens slightly and frowns.  “We both could get killed over this.  This isn’t some game, this is real and it's dangerous.  You should let the professionals handle it.”

“We all have to die sometime, Mr. Important,” Jean smiles ruefully, crumpling the script slightly in his hand.   “And I for one don’t feel like dying at my desk.”

“That’s enough,” Levi cuts them off, suddenly reminding them of his presence, as well as of Erwin standing beside him.  The producer himself also joined them sometime during their performance.  Compared to Jean’s interview, Erwin Smith seems far happier and shoots Levi a relieved smile.  “I think we made a good call.  You two have just the chemistry we need.”

* * *

 

Even after Levi Ackerman and Erwin Smith say that they have chemistry together, it’s hard for Jean to build up the courage to actually talk to his costar, especially after his embarrassing rambling before.  Actually, he straight up avoids him for a while, doing his best to keep himself busy while Marco is on set, only sparing him glances out of the side of his eye, admiring the charisma and dedication the other man shows on set.  

It’s not until they’re actually filming their first scenes together that they get to talk to each other again.

“Okay, so at this point, the Titan gang is going to ambush Felix, because they’ve noticed that he’s been spying on them.  Grant will tackle him out of the way before giving their return fire.”

Jean’s nervous to say the least--so far his scenes have been pretty easy, but actually being knocked over, even onto a padded floor, could go poorly.  If they have to do multiple takes, well, he’s going to hate this scene.  They had briefly discussed using rigging and wires for safety precautions, but Jean had assured them that he could handle the impact--it couldn’t be that bad.

Now he’s not so sure.

But he gets into position without complaint, waiting for the tell tale signal that the film is rolling.

“We have a rat!”  One of the gang members yells, pulling out their prop guns to point in his direction.  Pre-recorded gunfire noises play in the background, signalling Marco to emerge from his own hiding spot, jumping toward Jean.

The impact is worse than Jean had anticipated to be honest.  Marco is _heavy_ and his solid weight colliding into his chest is still painful and enough to knock the breath from Jean’s lungs, even with his padded vest underneath.  As their foreheads collide sharply, Jean firmly regrets his decision to try and look good by rejecting their safety precautions.

“Ugh,” Jean grunts, glaring at the man pinning him down against the mat.  “What the hell?”  He raises a hand to rub at his forehead--unscripted, but then again, so was the colliding of skulls.

In a distant way, he’s grateful for the pain though, because instead of focusing on the pure proximity he has with his costar, the _real_ star of the show, the way Marco’s knee is wedged between his thighs and the mere inches between their faces before the man urgently jerks away, he’s just as pissed off as Felix should be in the scene.

Marco simply makes a shushing motion as he unholsters his gun, pretending to fire back.  He doesn’t entirely remove himself from Jean, using his body weight to keep him pinned away from fire and in a place where he can make sure he doesn’t interfere.

“Cut!” Levi calls out, voice booming across the set as he releases the actors from their scene.  “That’s good, take ten minutes.  Jean, Marco, go get some ice.”

Marco climbs off of Jean, sheepishly giving him a hand up.  “Sorry about that, I think I moved a little too fast there.”

“Um, we don’t have to do it again, do we?”  Jean asks, eyeing the spreading pink mark on Marco’s forehead.  He knows his own face can’t look much better--the injury seems to throb as he stands.

“Nope, we’re keeping that take.  Mr. Ackerman says the collision adds a nice earnestness to it,”  one of Levi’s assistants tells them as they hurry on their way.

“Thank God,” Jean laughs, “Otherwise I’d be black and blue tomorrow.”

At the sound of Jean’s chuckles Marco seems to relax, his lips widening slowly into a sheepish smile.  “I’m so glad I didn’t break my nose on your face,” Marco laughs, “I was honestly a little afraid there.”

“Are you saying I have a hard head?” Jean asks, beginning to raise his eyebrows before his forehead reminds him of their earlier impact, instead schooling his expression a little.  Luckily even without the full gesture Marco seems to understand that he’s joking and keeps smiling at him, much to Jean's relief.

“Yes,” Marco laughs, his eyelids crinkling as he does.   

“Well, if you didn’t tackle me like we’re playing football, then you wouldn’t have had to worry about it,” Jean pouts playfully.  Strangely enough, his nervousness has fallen away.  Something about knocking their heads together seems to have broken the ice and now he can begin to lower Marco from the pedestal he’d made for him.

“I actually am really sorry about that,” Marco admits, running his hand through his hair, making the short strands stand up.  It’s an endearing gesture that Jean can’t help but smile at, even though he can practically hear their stylist complaining now.   “Could I buy you lunch later to make up for it?”

Jean’s never been one to turn down a free meal, so his answer is an easy one.  It’s not a decision he regrets.

* * *

Jean’s always been competitive by nature, so the opportunity to work side-by-side with far-more experienced actors improves his acting by leaps and bounds.  But of all the insanely talented people working on the film, Jean quickly realizes that he likes working with Marco the most.

He reasons that it's because they have the most scenes together--which is true.  But as Erwin pointed out during their first test-scene together, they have chemistry.  Marco’s honest and hardworking and his dedication makes Jean want to try even more than before, throwing himself into the performance in a way that pushes him to his limits in the best ways.

The growing friendship of Grant and Felix feels real and comes to them easily, partially because of the development of their own friendship.  After their first lunch together, where they quickly clicked, they make it a habit to run through their lines and kill time on set together.  In fact, their co-workers laugh because when they’re not separated for filming or makeup purposes, they’re pretty much joined at the hip.

“You know,” Rico Brzenska, the actress that plays Marco’s boss, muses, “If I didn’t know any better, I would have assumed that you guys have been friends for years.”

“I know right?” Reiner Braun laughs.  “I can’t wait to see you guys in the end scenes, they’re going to be so great.”  He waggles his narrow eyebrows suggestively in their direction, catching Jean’s attention and curiosity.

Their bosses have kept up their bizarre levels of secrecy and the cast works on a strict ‘need to know’ basis.  Reiner, who plays the main villain, is a little more involved with the later scenes than Jean is.   _Actually, he and Marco are both working on that big combat scene, so he knows about it too,_ he realizes.

Felix has his own individual trials to overcome toward the end of the movie, so Jean’s more in the dark than most, he suspects.  All he knows about the climax of the film is that once he escapes from a trap set by Martin Dominic, Reiner’s character, he manages to catch up to Grant halfway through the climax.

Despite their friendship, Marco is keen on keeping his mouth shut about the film--both of their first obligations are to Survey Studios of course.  Even so, Jean can’t help but peek over to gauge his friend’s reaction.  To his surprise, Marco’s cheeks are flushed with a light pink and he doesn’t meet Jean’s gaze as he responds, “Yeah, it’ll be a good scene.”

Jean’s insanely curious now, but he has to resign himself to wait until he gets the rest of his script.  Luckily for him, he doesn’t have to wait long.  Levi approaches him after he finishes his solo scene and hands him the last section of the script.

“You’ve done a good job,” he says, causing Jean to blush with pride.  The praise is a great ego booster, though he knows if he hadn’t been performing up to his boss’ standards than he certainly would have heard about it by now.  “I expect you to finish strong.”

Jean goes back to his dressing room to change out of his artfully distressed costume and into his own, much cheaper, clothes,  He tucks the script under his arm as he prepares to leave, pleased to finally know what all these months of work will lead up to.  There’s a knock at his door, one Jean recognizes as Marco’s--he always knocks in brisk sets of three.  

“Hey,” Marco smiles as he opens the door.  “Levi told me you got the rest of the script today.  I was wondering if you wanted to come over to my place to read it?  I’ll make dinner.”

It turns out, Marco’s cute, a talented actor, _and_ a good cook.   _What a catch,_ Jean admits to himself, making a point to peek around the man’s large, nicely furnished apartment while Marco cooks, nosily searching for any photos of a girlfriend.  He hasn’t mentioned one since he’s known him, but he can’t help but assume Mr. Rom-Com is sure to have one.

It’s after they’ve eaten that they relax on Marco’s couch for Jean to read his script.  He’s a little self-conscious because he knows Marco invited him over to watch his reaction, but curiosity easily wins out.

He can’t help but inflate with pride as he reads that Felix, through his wits and the element of surprise, unarms and incapacitates Martin Dominic before stumbling over to Grant, where the agent lies bloody and injured on the floor.

“Wait, they’re not killing off Grant, are they?” Jean asks suddenly.  It’s pretty unheard of in the genre to suddenly kill off the action hero, but that couldn’t be the twist they were going for, was it?  Levi had offhandedly remarked that if the response to the film was good, they were definitely considering a sequel.  Could they do it without Grant--without Marco?

He’s not sure he wants to keep playing Felix without Marco right next to him--even if that would mean he’d be the new main protagonist.  It just wouldn’t feel right.

“Keep reading,” Marco remarks softly.

Jean reads on as Felix gently cradles Grant in his arms, mindful of his injuries.

“Hey hero, you’re not allowed to die on me, got it?” Felix urges in an uneven voice, begging for Grant to open his eyes as he uses ripped tatters of his shirt to try and staunch the bleeding.

At his voice, Grant’s eyes slowly flutter open and he groans in pain.  “‘M not dyin,” he warbles weakly, a shaky hand reaching up to grab onto Felix’s shirt.  “Thank’s to you.  God, I thought you were dead…”

They both look at each other for a moment, tears threatening to fall as pure relief overtakes them, leaning forward until their faces are close enough for a relieved, passionate kiss.

“Oh,” Jean remarks oddly numb.  In a lot of action movies, male protagonists work together to get through hurdle after hurdle, spending more screen time bonding together than with their female love interests.  To take that traditional story and follow up on it, well, Levi was right about taking Hollywood by storm.  “We’re gonna kiss on screen, huh.”

“You okay with that?”  Marco asks nervously.

“Are you?”

“Well yeah.  I’ve kissed a lot of people in movies, so it’s not exactly new.  And to be honest…” Marco trails off for a moment before continuing, “I’m gay so this actually feels more natural to me.”

As he absorbs his words, Jean can’t help but bark out a laugh as the image of the posterboy for straight romantic-comedies crumbling before him.  “You’re one hell of an actor.  You practically have women eating out of your hand.”

A blush colors Marco’s face, lighting up his cheeks and the tips of his ears in what Jean can’t help but admit is the cutest way.  “Mainstream rom-coms are too straight and too white, but there’s something redeemable at their core…  I really like the ideas of ‘love conquers all’ and ‘if you’re meant to be, you’re meant to be.’”

There’s a pause in their conversation, heavy but not uncomfortable, before Jean finally shifts to lean against Marco’s shoulder, relieved by his honesty and feeling a little more willing to share himself.  “Have you ever heard of _PonyBoy_?”

“I watched it right after I met you,” Marco admits softly as he leans into Jean’s warmth.  “God, your performance made me cry and I just _knew_ you’d be an honor to work with.”  They lean against each other for a few minutes in comfortable silence, feeling closer than ever.

“I’m so glad Grant and Felix kiss,” Jean laughs, “we’re going to make so many old people choke on their popcorn.”

Marco peeks over him with a sly smile, “I’m glad Grant and Felix kiss because then I get a chance to kiss you.”

Jean gives him an incredulous smile so wide it makes his cheeks hurt.  “Well shit, Mr. Romance, if you need an excuse to kiss me, you’re not nearly as smooth as you claim to be,” he teases.

“You’re the one insisting I’m some love expert.  Not me,” Marco laughs.

“You gonna kiss me or what?” Jean asks.  As always, Marco’s more than happy to rise to the challenge.

* * *

“You know,” Grant admits, leaning heavily on his crutch as they wait to go to a debriefing with his boss.  “I’ve been looking for a partner.”

Felix peeks over at him with a wide smirk, the movement bringing attention to his split lower lip.  They're both a little worse for wear, but they’re both alive and that’s all that matters.

“Tell it to me straight--a gun and badge partner or a buy-you-roses-and-take-you-to-dinner partner?”

“Which would you want to be?”

“Can I be both?” Felix asks with a wide earnest grin--an open invitation for another kiss.  Just as they’re a few inches apart, his boss interrupts by calling them into her office.

“Does this partnership start now, then?” Felix asks with a happy laugh, reaching out to hold the hand that isn't busy supporting Grant's crutch.

“It started when you convinced me to let you tag along in the first place,” Grant answers as they enter the office, softly squeezing the other man's hand in his.

 

 


End file.
